Unitil execs’ salaries reported

Monday, January 10, 2011

Robert Schoenberger, the chairman, chief executive and president of Unitil Inc. earned $1.3 million in compensation in 2009, just slightly less than the amount he earned in 2008, according to a proxy filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Schoenberger’s pay package includes $456,601 in salary, $196,338 in cash performance incentives, a $504,427 increase in the value of retirement benefits offered and $60,135 in other benefits, including dividends on restricted stock, 401(k) contributions, taxes paid on vested restricted stock, a vehicle allowance and club dues.

Other executives also were paid about what they were the year before: chief financial officer Mark Collin’s package was worth $441,469; chief operating officer Thomas Meisner Jr., $436,767; George Gantz, senior vice president, $404,087; and Todd Black, another senior vice president, $294,223.

While Unitil’s net gain of $10 million in 2009 was slightly more than the previous year, its per-share earnings were $1.03, down from $1.69 in 2008. That is primarily because the company expanded the number of outstanding shares to partly finance its acquisition of Northern Utilities and Granite State Gas Transmission.

Unitil closed at $22.32, up 20 cents. – BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSIHRE BUSINESS REVIEW

Future construction deals keep ’09 pace in Jan.

The value of contracts for future construction in New Hampshire remained flat overall in the first month of 2010.

According to figures from industry information service McGraw-Hill Construction, January 2010 contracts for future construction totaled $71.8 million, down slightly from the $72.1 million reported in January 2009.

The total value of future residential construction contracts was $20.7 million, down 27 percent from the $28.4 million reported a year earlier.

Nonresidential construction totaled $44 million in January, up 12 percent from a year earlier. Nonbuilding projects -- which include roads, bridges and other infrastructure work, much of which has been funded through federal stimulus money – totaled $7.1 million, 62 percent more than the 4.4 million reported in January 2009.

The total value of contracts for future construction in New Hampshire totaled $1.96 billion in 2009, 13 percent more than the $1.73 billion reported in 2008 – JEFF FEINGOLD/HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW

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